5/24/11

Dear College Freshmen.

I know you’ll be scared on the first day. Even if you spend
all summer claiming to be “mostly excited” and “not at all nervous”, your first
day will hit you like a ton of bricks. Especially after your parents are gone
and you’re sitting in your room alone. Don’t stay there long. Go out and
introduce yourself. Everyone else is just as scared as you.

Work hard. Work harder than you’ve ever worked before. But
take breaks. Invest in relationships. Because there will be times when you need
the support of friends.

Please, in the name of all that is good, do not date the boy
that you met on Facebook over the summer. It will not turn out well.

Go to class. Work out as much as possible (the endorphins
are worth it). Pop-Tarts are not a substantial meal. Get eight hours of sleep.
Smile at professors. Sit towards the front of the classroom. Don’t wear
sweatpants to class. Do your homework. Create study schedules. Find a job if
you can.

Don’t always color inside the lines. Be who you are, and
don’t be afraid to say how you feel. Don’t obsess over things that you cannot
change. Get in the habit of calling your mother. She worries about you.

Know that you will have friends. And know that the world
will, at times, be partying without you. Be okay with that. Befriend the people
who understand you, who enjoy the same movies and books, who love dance and
music and taking ridiculous pictures. But don’t be afraid to talk to the people
who are your polar opposites. You will learn the most from them.

(Courtesy of Tom Bishop)

Stay up late with the friend whose boyfriend broke up with
her. Plan your roommate’s birthday party. Have girl’s nights out. Go on dates.
Dress up. Make midnight Dunkin Donuts runs. Watch the sunrise on the beach.

Try to soak in every moment.

At some point, you will be told that the hardest parts of
letting go are the people you leave behind. This is only partially true.

The hardest parts are the people, yes; but they are the
people who will move forward without you, perhaps in an opposite direction,
into the callings that are their own lives. Because you never really leave any
living, functioning being behind. You’re all continuously moving, and changing,
and dreaming, and becoming the people that you were purposed to be.

Take comfort in familiar faces now, because there may be years
and miles and experiences that you will not have in common.

But, oh, hold to those who matter. Write them letters and
call (even though you hate the phone) and plan reunions and stick to those
plans. Because somewhere down the line, you will forget the way you fell on the
ice outside of Pizza Hut with your hands inside the pockets of your pea coat,
and you will need someone to remind you.